California Insider

A Weblog by
Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub

April 6, 2006

The case for open borders

Nathan Smith pens a provocative piece on law, justice, morality and the case for open borders, with a bit of pragmatic policy thrown in for good measure. He manages to skewer both left and right and makes quite a bit of sense in doing so.

Voter reg problems

Democrats are getting increasingly vocal in their criticism of Secretary of State McPherson over what appears to be a snafu with the state's new voter registration database. Sen. Debra Bowen, who is running for McPherson's job (along with fellow Sen. Deborah Ortiz) says she doesn't think the foul-up is a Republican plot to disenfranchise new voters, but she hasn't been shy about linking McPherson to the Bush Administration, which approved his plan. Today, Senate Leader Don Perata joined the fray, along with Bowen. They're claiming that thousands of newly registered voters or old voters who moved are going to be dropped from the rolls if the system isn't fixed.

Schmidt's take

With Angelides and Westly dominating the headlines, the gov’s new campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, moved in for a little space of his own today with a briefing for reporters on the campaign as he sees it. There were no surprises, few insights and not that many quotable quotes. More of a touching-base session than anything else.

Schmidt’s main talking point is that the election, in his view, will be “about a choice” between Schwarzenegger and the eventual Democratic nominee, not a referendum on the governor. With both Democrats talking about new spending, and Angelides talking openly about raising taxes by several billion dollars, clearly Schmidt thinks that’s where the major choice will be debated. He complimented the treasurer for his honesty in pushing a tax hike and accused Westly of trying to “hide the ball” on how he intends to pay for increased spending.

"Phil Angelides was right to call him out on that,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said Democrats should be “nervous” given the governor’s public approval and personal popularity after the tough year he had in 2005. He noted that opponents spent $150 million attacking Schwarzenegger, with much of their advertising “character-based” yet a recent poll showed that 71 percent of voters still like him, and 61 percent of Latinos like him.

If he were in the Democrats’ shoes, Schmidt said, "I would have a shiver down my spine."

Although most political observers believe the Schwarzenegger camp would rather run against Angelides, because he has more ideological baggage and less personal money to spend on the race, Schmidt said they are “totally indifferent” to the outcome of the Democratic primary.

He promised that the campaign will be tough, and the governor’s team will draw distinctions between him and his opponent. He predicted that pundits will call it “negative campaigning” when they see contrasts being drawn on issues such as taxes. But he said he does not expect the battle to become personal.

"You won't see a campaign that attacks people on a personal level,” he said. "Highly personal character assassination, this campaign won't have any part of."